Friday, May 10, 2013

Redneck Steak Beef Jerky was created by Trae Stokes, based out of Pinellas Park, FL. Trae started the business as a way to earn a living after mortgage crash of 2008 busted his contracting business.

Having grown up in the South all his life, he had mastered the skills of smoking meats. On a whim, Trae had smoked up batch of jerky and sold it at a local arts and craft show, and thus was born Redneck Steak Beef Jerky.

Redneck Steak Beef Jerky is made with premium bottom round, then smoked over real oak wood for 4-6 hours. They currently offer two varieties, this Traditional, as well as "Moonshine".

Ingredients

None provided.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is an onion flavor, followed by a salty and sweet. Some black pepper comes in later, along with a hint of smoke.

The chewing brings in a more rich smokiness along with a light natural meat flavor. There's a tanginess in there, which I think comes from garlic. I can pick up a bit more sweetness.

For being marketed as oak wood smoked, it certainly fills the bill. I do pick up an easily noticed smoky flavor, more in the chewing, and it does have that real wood smoked flavor as opposed to liquid smoke.

Otherwise, the flavors that seems to dominate this jerky starts with the onion. There's actually thin slices of onion easily visible on the surface of these pieces. The sweetness is the next most noticeable, which combines with the onion to give it that sweet onion flavor. That's followed by a salty seasoning blend that includes black pepper and garlic. The smoky, natural meat flavor comes in last, just enough to give you that sense of eating beef.

In terms of heat, there's none. It's quite mild. But there is a lot of flavor to be had in these slices.

The level of saltiness in this feels moderate.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs of medium sizes, and sliced thin.

This a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. They have a slight brittle character, bending a little bit before snapping. Chewing seems mostly easy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling dry and slightly woody. There's no chewing resistance. The pieces break apart and chew down quite quickly and easily. Once chewed to a soft mass, it feels meaty, almost steak-like, but more crumbly, or perhaps, gritty, due to the thin, dry slices.

I don't see any streaks of fat on these pieces, nor any gristle. I didn't encounter any stringiness and no unchewable tissues. It's very meaty.

In terms of clean eating, it seems pretty clean. I do get a few bits of seasoning stuck to my fingers, but they rub off easily.

Snack Value

Red Neck Steak Beef Jerky sells this Traditional variety from its website at a price of $75.00 for ten 3oz packages. Add to that sales tax of $5.25, and it all works out to a price of $2.68 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.68 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a very good flavor as well as good meat consistency and decent chewing texture. Compared to other gourmet brands, it's priced about the same, but offers a better snackability overall.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Traditional variety from Redneck Steak Beef Jerky offers a lot of great flavor, particularly a sweet onion taste due to the slices of onion and dabs of brown sugar. But it adds a nice seasoning blend of garlic, pepper, and Greek seasoning.

However, what really makes this jerky perk is the real wood smoked flavor mixed in with the light natural meat taste, that won't let you forget that smoked beef is what good jerky is all about.

It's also easy to eat, has a good meat consistency and decent chewing texture, though it tends to feel crumbly and/or gritty due to its thin, dry consistency. But that sweet onion flavor, mixed with the seasoning blend, really makes this a great snack, and one you ought to try.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.